Power and data may be provided from one electronic device to another over cables that may include one or more wires, fiber optic cables, or other conductors. Connector inserts may be located at each end of these cables and may be inserted into connector receptacles in the communicating or power transferring devices.
These connector receptacles may be located in openings in enclosures of electronic devices. In some circumstances, it may be desirable to combine more than one connector receptacle into a single unit, which may be referred to as a combined connector receptacle.
Various problems may arise when connector receptacles are gathered into a combined connector receptacle. For example, it may be difficult to align multiple connector receptacles to openings in an enclosure of an electronic device. This may be particularly true when the surface of the enclosure is nonplanar.
Also, contacts in each connector receptacle may convey high-speed signals, power supplies, and other signals. The high-speed signals may have relatively fast edges. These fast edges may have high-frequency signal components that may degrade nearby power supplies. The high-frequency signal components from the high-speed signals and nearby power supplies may couple onto high-speed signal contacts in the same or other connector receptacle in the combined connector receptacle, thereby degrading the performance of the same or other connector receptacle.
Contacts in a connector receptacle may terminate in through-hole contact portions that may be inserted into corresponding openings in a board during device assembly. Including more than one connector receptacle in a combined connector receptacle may make the insertion of the through-hole contact portions more complicated. Specifically, the number of contacts and corresponding through-hole contact portions may increase, thereby making alignment of the through-hole contact portions to corresponding openings in a board more difficult.
Thus, what is needed are combined connector receptacles that may be aligned to openings in a device enclosure, may provide isolation between individual connector receptacles, may have reduced noise coupling to high-speed signal contacts within a connector receptacle, and may have structures arranged to reduce or eliminate damage to through-hole contact portions during their insertion into corresponding openings in a printed circuit board.